Medical marijuana users will be exempt from a Jan. 1 law that will ban the use of e-cigarettes anywhere tobacco smoking is prohibited.

Ontario Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla said those who have been authorized to use pot for treatment of a health condition will be allowed to vape in places that normally do not allow smoking.

“The medical marijuana exemption is obviously very limited — it’s for people who have a doctor’s prescription,” Damerla said Wednesday. “But equally important to understand that as an employer or a restaurant owner, you can say that there’s no vaping, smoking medical marijuana here.”

“Ontario has taken a huge step forward by exempting medical cannabis patients and their use of vaporizers,” CFAMM founder Jonathan Zaid said in a statement. “Many patients, including myself, choose to vaporize their medicine, and any prohibition on vaporizer use would have severely limited the ability of patients to use their medication as prescribed.”

Ontario intends to regulate the use of e-cigarettes and vaping beginning in the new year, treating them like regular cigarettes. Existing anti-smoking laws ban people from lighting up in restaurant patios, around hospitals, near playgrounds and many other public places.

There has already been pressure from those who see e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation device to halt the ban altogether.

The new exemption for medical marijuana would still permit owners of restaurants, municipalities and employers to prohibit its use on their property.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said he hopes that the province would work with municipalities to ensure medical marijuana is not used in places where it would be wrong to expose others to any secondhand smoke, like a park.

Brown said he does acknowledge the difference between those who smoke pot for medical reasons and those who use it simply to get high.

“There’s not going to be an overwhelming amount of people in Ontario running out to parks to have their medical marijuana,” Brown said. “I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s a recipe for chaos.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath noted Health Canada has issued warnings about exposing people, especially young children, to the smoke or the vapour of marijuana, but added she would look at the legislation.

Asked what she would do if someone lit up medical marijuana beside her at a restaurant, Horwath quipped, “I’ll probably eat more.”

Pot users exempt from e-cigarette law

Medical marijuana users will be exempt from a Jan. 1 law that will ban the use of e-cigarettes anywhere tobacco smoking is prohibited.

Ontario Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla said those who have been authorized to use pot for treatment of a health condition will be allowed to vape in places that normally do not allow smoking.

“The medical marijuana exemption is obviously very limited — it’s for people who have a doctor’s prescription,” Damerla said Wednesday. “But equally important to understand that as an employer or a restaurant owner, you can say that there’s no vaping, smoking medical marijuana here.”